>After a very, very long time, I got the chance to wield my camera like a pro. Despite The Guy’s discouragement, I carried my DSLR to Goa. And am so glad I did! It made up for any lack of company. That, and my super cool iPod touch, that’s everything that an iPhone is except that it’s not a phone. But I digress, we were talking about the camera and me and Goa.

Luckily for me, the resort the company had put us up in was pretty like Goan resorts are famed to be. And so I could put my photography to good use! And since I’ve been told enough times of my narcisstic tendencies, I live up to them by putting my pic here first:

But honestly, the hotel with lots of greenery and water bodies, was the prettier of the subjects.

This view, of the sunshine filtering through the wooden slats and creating a geometrical pattern of shadows right outside my room was heart-warming.

One of the best things about travelling is getting to see flowers and plants you’d never see in one single place. I’m not much of a botanist, but ain’t this flower pretty?

And that, darlings, is the gold tinged sky that was tempting us around sunset from the conference hall:

But where are the beaches, you ask? For all their prettiness, I’m not a South Goa beach person and that’s where we were! They are too quiet for my liking. And so, I had to wait to go to Baga Beach in North Goa, to really feel like I was in Goa!

And in the super-hurried visit to Brrito’s shack, I got the time to get a temporary tattoo on my ankle:

I’ve been toying with the idea of getting a permanent tattoo for far too long. But I still haven’t found my favourite design. Suggestions?

>Not exactly. Not at all, actually. It’s probably Chinese, like most things that we get around the world these days. But that’s not what this is about. This is about showing off some of my latest shoe acquistions.

The high-heeled ones

And the flat ones

And the multi-coloured onesAnd the comfy ones

And the branded ones

And the ones in neutral colours

I do have quite a shoe fetish. I can shop nothing else but shoes. I buy the Rs 250 ones from the road-side, the local brands and the international brands, as long as they catch my eye. As a result, I have more shoes now than I have space for. Take a look at what my shoe closet looks like:

And I’m not even talking about the boxes that have begun piling up beside the closet! Yes, shoe addict is me. What’s your addiction?

>…is not for me! I really didn’t think I would be doing up our Christmas tree this year, being in the mood that I was. But the holiday spirit taken over me! And I surprised myself with shopping for some more things to put up on our gigantic tree. Doing up the tree was just another excuse we needed to call our friends over. Which is exactly what we did on Monday.

We first did up the tree together

A ladder was put up to put the lights high up on the tree

We used a lot of stuff from last year. Such as this:

And some new stuff too

And this what the tree looked like in the end. Ot at least one side of it. Like it?

I also got really cute Santa caps for everyone

And being typically, pathetically mathematically challenged, I got only ten of these star-lit caps when there were going to be 14 of us huddling around the bonfire after putting up the tree. We ordered pizzas which we had with beer and scotch and vodka and whatever-your-choice-of-drink could be. And since we were hungry again by the time it was time to go home, we had some piping hot Maggi and anda bhurji by the fire.

And while we’re on the topic of Christmas, here’s a question I want to ask you: Who’s the Santa in your family? That’s the question they’re asking on Radio Mirchi for their Christmas Special. And it’s a question that got me thinking… who is the one person in my family who seems to have a mental note of everyone’s wish list, waiting to fulfil all of them? It’s sad but it’s true that the person who could have fit Santa’s bill in the entire khandaan is no more: my late uncle – my masi’s husband – who passed away five years ago.

He was the favouritest son-in-law for Nana and Nani because he knew before they could said what they needed. He was the favouritest uncle among his nieces and nephews because he never forgot a birthday or a gift. He was standing by anyone who needed him – at weddings and funerals, times of joy and sorrow. He was a brother to brother-less sisters, a son to so many parents, the shoulder you could lean on always. He was everything Santa should be because he never asked for anything in return.